Help on Brahms variations on a theme by Paganini

[dikai_yang]

Finally done learning the notes for the brahms variations on a theme by paganini, both books...  Almost the whole thing is up to the speed now..., several barriers though...

two variations that i cannot overcome, please help
first... book 1 variations 8... can anybody actually play this at performance tempo??  it would seem to me that there's NO time to aim for the octave... for other pieces with lots octaves we can just follow our senses of where the keys are which most of us can do very well, but this is beyond that speed such that there is no time to "sense"... obviously i only have time to take care of one side and one side only, would you suggest the left or right...

second... book 2 variation 7... well, in the large picture it's a simple 3-to-4... but with the music written like that.... i'm overwhelmed... HELP...

[burstroman]

Listen to Claudio Arrau.